Shimla: The CBI court in Chandigarh on Monday sentenced to life Himachal Pradesh Inspector General (IG) Zahoor Haider Zaidi, the then DSP of Theog Manoj Joshi, former Kotkhai SHO Rajinder Singh, ASI Deep Chand, head constable Surat Singh, constables Mohan Lal, Rafiq Ali and Ranjit Singh along with slapping a Rs 1 lakh fine on each in the custodial murder case of a youth, Suraj. On January 18, Justice Alka Mailk convicted the accused.
Soon after the matter came to light, CBI, the investigative agency issued a notice barring the cremation of Suraj's body and arrested Zaidi, Joshi and others.
In July 2017, the body of a 16-year-old girl was found in the Dandi forest of the Halila area of Kotkhai in Upper Shimla. The girl left school for home on July 4 but never returned. After a frantic search by the family, her clothless body was found on July 6, leading to public anger.
SIT's Claim
The government constituted an SIT led by Zaidi which made some arrests, claiming to have cracked the case. During his incarceration, the accused Suraj died in the custody of Kotkhai Police Station. Suspicious of a botched-up investigation, the infuriated public set the police station on fire.
Zaidi portrayed Suraj's death as the outcome of an infighting between the inmates. A fabricated case was registered and the mortal remains of Suraj were hurriedly taken for the funeral. The CBI intervened before Suraj was consigned to flames and dispatched the body to AIIMS, Delhi for autopsy which found excessive beating as the cause of death.
The CBI tightened its noose around Zaidi and found telltale details in his call records which revealed that under pressure from the government to close the case, the SIT arrested Suraj, a labourer from Nepal, and forced him to confess to the crime of raping and murdering the girl by beating him indiscriminately in the lock-up leading to his death on July 18, 2017.
Sole Witness
Constable Dinesh, the only witness to the cruel episode refused to be in connivance with the officials in falsifying the case. On July 19, Zaidi recorded Dinesh's statement on the mobile phone in which he intentionally excluded the recording of the investigation report. He got Dinesh to sign a false complaint and threatened him with suspension.
Based on Dinesh's complaint, an FIR was lodged against the alleged accused Rajendra alias Raju.
A tormented Dinesh spoke to his family members about what he went through and they got in touch with then BJP MLA Balveer Verma. Meanwhile, Dinesh approached CBI which arrested Zaidi based on the call records. Then Shimla ASP Bhajan Negi had also testified that Zaidi and Joshi wanted to forcibly extract the confession from the accused.
Who is IG Zahoor Zaidi?
IG Zahoor Zaidi hails from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. He was born in 1968. A 1994 batch Himachal cadre IPS officer, he has a master's degree in mechanical engineering and police management. In 2010, he was also awarded the Police Medal for outstanding services. During his service period, he also held the post of IG Traffic. Apart from this, he was made IG, Law and Order, in 2017. He was appointed the head of the SIT formed during the Gudiya rape and murder case.
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